I'll Cover You
by skye3
Summary: Pre-5.16 MD oneshot.


**Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda and ABC. **

The television was on with an almost inaudible volume and she flipped through the channels trying to find something interesting enough to watch. Finally settling for some sitcom rerun, she turned the volume up a little bit lower. Not wanting to disturb the person beside her, she slowly turned to put the remote on the side table. She wasn't even sure if he was already asleep, but his eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and shallow that she didn't want to chance it. Besides, he looked really peaceful. And if she wasn't holding an ice pack against his face right now, it would be like the events of the day never happened.

"Hmmm..." he groaned then pressed the side of his face that didn't have blacks and blues as much a little further into her stomach. His arms around her tightened then relaxed.

"Der?" she murmured.

"Hmmm..." he groaned in response.

"Derek..." She tried again, "if you're going to sleep, we should move to the bedroom."

"Hmmm.....no...." he kept his eyes closed and pressed a soft kiss on her stomach.

She ran her fingers through his hair, subconsciously comforting him for whatever pain he's feeling. "We can't sleep on the couch, Derek. Well we could, if we were drunk. But were not. And we'll definitely be sorry in the morning if we spend the entire night on this couch." When he didn't move an inch, "Derek," she nudged him, lifting the ice pack to get a better view of his face. The swelling of the ugly bruise around his eye had gone down a little but the one of his cheek would probably be swelling for a few more days.

"No..." he murmured against her flat stomach, "'s comfy here...."

She'd never seen this side on him. Sure, he liked to cuddle specially after sex. But there's a difference between cuddling and clinging. And right now, he was definitely clingy. She giggled and placed the ice pack back on his face. He moved then, lifting his head to look at her.

"You're laughing at me," he accused, an incredibly childish pout gracing his features.

"I'm not laughing at you," she denied. "I'm watching the show."

He glanced at the tv. "It's on commercial." He sighed, and then went back to his original position.

Her face dropped. "Derek…I'm…I'm sorry I laughed. Are…are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mer."

How long was he going to keep pretending like nothing happened? "Okay, that's my line. And in my world, being fine usually means not fine. And today…today was bad. You had that royal rumble match with Mark, you have evidence of that on your face. And there was all that yelling you did with Addison in the OR. And just…today was bad. Really bad. So…you're not fine, Derek." Her voice was gentle and did not bare any hint of judgment.

He groaned and untangled himself from her. "What do you want from me, Meredith?" He sat at the other end of the couch, face buried in his hands.

She moved to sit beside him and slowly took his hand. He let her. She ran her fingertips lightly over his swollen knuckles. "I just…you had a really bad day. You were so angry, you still are. I can see it. I just…I don't know why. And I can't…what's going on with you, Der?"

"Derek," she whispered once again, when he just continued staring at his feet.

He sighed. "I don't know, Mer. I just….I didn't want to lose the patient. Jen. I don't know why…I just…I didn't want to lose her. And Mark was being an ass." He looked at her, and she could see the tears that he's trying so hard to keep at bay. "I shouldn't have made fun of Lexie during the first procedure. I was tired and I got careless. I shouldn't have –"

"Derek, you can't blame yourself for this." She squeezed his hand. "These things happen. You can't save everyone. You know that."

He nodded. "I know. I know. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to be able to save everyone. I just…I fight so hard every time. And every time I lose that battle…I just…it's hard." His voiced wavered. His Adam's apple bobbed as he fought so hard not to fall apart.

She hugged him then, not knowing how else to comfort him. This was Derek. And she understood him. This was Derek, the love of her life. He's always going to have an over the top God-complex. He'll always be trying to be perfect and be what he thinks everyone expects of him. This was Derek, the man she built a house of candles for, the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

She kissed him, long and passionate. _I'm here. Everything's going to be alright. I love you._ When they came up for air, she placed her forehead against his and he held her close. Their eyes closed, they reveled in the peaceful silence of the house.

When he pulled away, he saw the concern reflected on her face. "I'm going to okay." He smiled, although it didn't reach his ears and the twinkle in his eyes weren't there. "I just need some time." He reached for her hand and squeezed. "I'm going to be alright, Mer." He said, with a little more force and conviction this time.

"Okay," she smiled back. Then she moved to her original position on the couch and held out her arms to him, "come back here." She coaxed.

He obeyed, moving to lie down beside her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head against her stomach. He closed his eyes as she placed the discarded ice pack back on his face.

"Hmmm…" he hummed. He could stay like this forever. He had a horrible day. His face and hands were swelling so much that it hurt like hell. But being here with her and knowing that she's here for him and not running to the opposite direction, it felt good. It made all the horrible things fade into the background.

She toyed with the hair on his nape, knowing he loved it when she did that. "Sleep," she whispered to him. "I'll wake you up when it's time to go upstairs." She kissed his temple. "I love you."

And even though he was so tired and could not keep his eyes open, he smiled. "I love you too."

**A/N: Sometimes, people just have really bad days. And it doesn't mean there's something seriously wrong with them. I think Derek's just having one of those times. And he just needs time to get over the loss and then he'll be able to move on and return to his old self. Also, I've tried thinking of reasons that would lead to the Derek+Mark fist fight. But for the life of me, I can't think of any. Well, there's Lexie. But I'm not a fan of that reason so I'll just leave it at "Mark's being an ass." Lol.**

**Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome. **


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